Pundit

Top of the Agenda: US Imposes New Sanctions on Iran

US President Barack Obama signed an executive order (NYT) implementing new economic sanctions against Iran that will freeze all property of the Iranian Central Bank, the Iranian government, and the country's financial institutions in the United States. The new rules could also penalize financial institutions in other countries that conduct business with the Iranian Central Bank. The move is meant to limit the central bank's ability to sell oil on the international market by blocking its payments.

The sanctions are part of a broader US and European effort to penalize Iran over its nuclear program, which the West contends is for the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. The EU recently passed an embargo on Iranian oil that will come into effect in July.

Analysis

"Toughening sanctions may placate Israel for a time and allow President Obama to demonstrate concrete action to pressure Iran as distinct from the campaign-trail saber-rattling of his Republican challengers. But the prospects are, at best, uncertain that tougher sanctions combined with the threat of military action will force Iran to back down," writes TIME's Tony Karon.

"The single biggest danger in the Middle East today is not the risk of a six-day Israeli war against Iran. It is the risk that Western wishful nonthinking allows the mullahs of Tehran to get their hands on nuclear weapons. Because I am in no doubt that they would take full advantage of such a lethal lever. We would have acquiesced in the creation of an empire of extortion," writes Niall Ferguson in Newsweek.

"Unending military threats unite Iranians and fire up their resistance. Economic sanctions weaken and divide them--and often produce constituencies for compromise. Give sanctions time to play out," writes CFR's Leslie H. Gelb at TheDailyBeast.com.

PACIFIC RIM

US Eases Burma Sanctions

The United States partially waived sanctions against Burma's military-backed government, paving the way for the country to receive technical assistance from international financial institutions (BBC). The move came as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi began campaigning for a parliamentary by-election.

JAPAN: Japanese trade officials will meet their US counterparts in Washington today to discuss Japan's entry into a group of nine nations negotiating a regional free-trade agreement in the Pacific, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (WSJ). Japan faces domestic opposition over the move, as well as skepticism by US labor unions.

Trade accounts for an increasing portion of the US economy, and the Obama administration has embraced a ramped up export strategy. But debate persists over the merits of a vigorous free trade agenda, explains this CFR Backgrounder.

ELSEWHERE:

Russian foreign minister talks with Assad while shells fly

Protests force another president to quit – but this one's less clear cut

Greek strikes as deal-making continues

This is an excerpt of the CFR.org Daily News Brief. The full version is available on CFR.org.